Mildly Insufferable
by Infinite Inficio
Summary: [Twoshot][ShikaSaku] The least Sakura wanted from her birthday, when everyone forgot about it, is to have a nice dinner. However, her plans were reduced to ashes by an obnoxious, stupid jerk. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all? Hopefully.


"That's the end of training today, Sakura. You may go now."

Sakura sighed with relief, and wiped the beads of sweat dripping down her forehead. The morning training went for hours, and even if she was glad she was able to use her perfect chakra control for something, a break was definitely welcome.

"Thank you, Tsunade-shishou," she said, as she rolled up all the scrolls, and put them in their appropriate places. It was the moment that she'd been waiting for the whole morning. Sakura cleared her throat, and started.

"Tsunade-shishou, you know what day it is today... right?" she asked hopefully, her hands behind her arms nervously. Her teacher's face was certainly a sign that no, she did not know, so Sakura gave a hint. "It's a very important day _for me_," she added.

"Oh! Yes, yes, I do." Sakura beamed. It was too quick for her to be happy, however, as Tsunade continued with her sentence. "This afternoon, you're finally going to learn how to summon animals."

"Summon animals...?" Sakura repeated unsurely. Okay, that didn't seem like _too bad_ of a birthday present. Naruto could summon frogs, so why shouldn't she be able to summon something cooler?

"That's... good, Tsunade-shishou."

"Wonderful. Then I hope you like slugs-"

"Wait," Sakura interrupted. "You mean... slugs? Those creatures with no feet that leave behind slimy trails? Those kind of slugs?"

"Yes, what other kinds of slugs are there? They have great medicinal properties, and are wise companions to have around."

Sakura tried to leave her girly, immature thoughts about how disgusting handling (_ew ew ew!_) slugs would be behind. Learning how to summon them would be a great addition to her skills, enabling her to save her two teammates from facing gruesome endings! Then they can all live happily ever after!

But it all came down to the slugs. Sakura sighed, and gave up. She forced a smile onto her face. "I'll see you this afternoon, then, Tsunade-shishou."

Tsunade nodded, and Sakura tried her hardest not to slam the door. "That went more smoothly than I expected," she muttered, relieved. "I thought I would have to persuade her that there's nothing wrong with the slugs; the slime really hinders a lot of girls from wanting to summon the poor creatures. I guess Sakura is tougher than I thought." Quite happily, she checked for her lottery number in the newspaper.

"Let's see. 13807. I wonder if I won-"

Tsunade paused. She instantly put the newspaper down, and yelled out, "SHIZUNE!"

The Hokage heard footsteps racing down the corridor, the cause of it bursting through the door, and yelled out in an equally loud voice,

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAKURA!"

There was another pause. Shizune looked around, and the young girl was nowhere to be found. "Where's Sakura? I've been waiting to give her this!"

Shizune held up a box, wrapped up quite nicely, with a big bow on the top. She sighed, and placed it next to the bookshelves. "I guess I'll just give it to her this afternoon."

"Today is her birthday? How come she didn't tell me?" Shizune opened her mouth to answer, but Tsunade figured it out herself, and placed her hand onto her forehead. "Oh, poor girl. She must've been so shocked by the fact that I forgot her birthday that she didn't know what to say! She's probably down in the dumps now, and wandering through the village idly..."

"Sakura is a strong girl, so you shouldn't worry about it, Hokage-sama," Shizune said encouragingly. "I'm sure she's doing fine."

The Hokage glanced at the lottery section of the newspaper once more. _'13807…'_

"It's because she's a strong girl that I'm _worried_ right now..."

-------------------

It was ten in the morning, on a free day. Kakashi didn't know who was at the door, but if it was someone not particularly acquainted with him, they'd be launched back about twenty metres before they could even say "Kakashi-san".

He opened the door, taking his time

"Good morning, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura greeted politely, before she attacked on his lateness on opening the door. "It was very kind of you to leave me waiting for thirty minutes out here! Your own former student!"

He ignored her complaint, and gave a smile, even though she wouldn't be able to see it, with the exception of the slight crinkle around his eye. "My pleasure, Sakura. What brings you here to my humble dwelling, otherwise referred to as my house?"

"Uh... Cut the formalities, sensei. What brings me here is one thing- I want to ask you a question. Do you remember what day today is?"

"Sunday."

"Uh... yes, it is, but you know that's not what I mean."

No, Kakashi did not know what today was. It wasn't his birthday. It wasn't anyone's birthday that he could think of, but he couldn't remember anyone's birthday, anyway, so that trail of thought was going to go to a dead end however he looked at it.

He glanced at Sakura. Her arms were folded, and her foot was tapping impatiently. She certainly wasn't leaving until she got an answer from him, and by the look of it, he better give it to her soon.

"Is today the date of my monthly check-up at the hospital?" he guessed, and strongly hoped that he was right; Sakura wasn't the type to simply break down and cry when disappointed. That type can be comforted with soothing words and an apology.

She was more of the smashy smashy type. The type that could make him wait two weeks for his new door to arrive.

Luckily for Kakashi's apartment, this smashy smashy type was able to contain her anger, and Kakashi got to survive until the day he'd finally suffer her wrath.

"No, sensei, it's not your monthly check-up. _Good day_," she said, in a tone that could be considered murderous, considering how honey-coated her last two words were. "I think I'll be going now."

But Kakashi was just glad it was over with, and quickly slammed the door before Sakura changed her mind.

Sakura was shocked, and her mouth was left gaping for a few seconds, before she regained her composure.

"The nerve of that man!" she huffed.

She decided to give Ino a visit. She might be her rival, but Sakura was sure Ino remembered her birthday. At least she did when they were still in the Ninja Academy. Sakura drew a breath in, before going into the Yamanaka flower shop. She was surprised to see Ino's father there instead of her rival.

"Umm… Hello, Yamanaka-san."

"Hello, Sakura. What brings you here? Do you want a flower?"

"Actually, I wanted to see Ino."

"She's gone somewhere, and I have no idea where she is. Have one anyway. It's your birthday, right?"

_Finally, someone remembers!_ she thought ecstatically, but outwardly, she simply smiled. "Thank you. It's very kind of you."

"You're welcome. Here you go."

The man handed her a particularly large flower on a long stalk, and she wasn't sure what it was, but considering the fact that it wasn't poisonous, and it was a birthday present, she was quite happy to receive it.

Besides, it matched her new vase.

She also looked at all the possible places where Naruto could be; he knew her birthday almost as long as Ino, so he'd definitely shout, "Happy Birthday!" to her before trying to encase her in a big hug, and asking her out on another date. She couldn't be happier to be asked on a date at the moment, and she searched the training grounds for any orange-clad, happy-looking ninja. Nope, there was none.

Sakura went to his favourite ramen stand. "Excuse me, but is Naruto here?" she asked politely. The old man shook his head, and told her the last time he saw Naruto was at lunchtime.

_Where is Naruto when you need him?_ Sakura thought, annoyed, and she kicked a pebble as she walked down the path. Suddenly, her stomach grumbled, and she decided to make a much-needed pit stop at a dango shop.

The dango was delicious, and after she paid for the nice meal, she set out on her journey to find someone who cared about her birthday once more.

Then she stopped.

After thinking about it, Sakura realised that she hadn't eaten a nice meal at home in a long time. Suddenly, the idea of making dinner with her family came to her.

Soup sounded nice- she nodded at her decision approvingly. _It would be easy to get all the ingredients from the village market,_ she thought, her hopes finally shooting up again.

----------------

The limit to her cooking was instant noodles, so she'll just ask for a little (a lot of) help from her mother! Sakura can cut up stuff and her mother... can do the rest. That seemed like quite the foolproof plan to her at that moment, so Sakura swiftly raced down to the inner part of the village. She was going to eat well tonight, with or without people remembering her birthday!

She started her quest of finding only the best ingredients for the birthday girl: herself! The carrots in the vegetable stall looked inviting, and the prices weren't so high. Sakura bargained for them, and ended up with a plastic bag full of them. Marvellous!

She walked down the road and bought various other vegetables, until realising that she needed some more meat in her diet, and purchased some of that too. Great! At least one thing was going to go well on her birthday; her soup.

At least, that was what she thought, until some obnoxious, stupid jerk decided to bump into her and made her drop all of her precious vegetables.

It seemed happy Sakura was never meant to be in existence for too long, anyway.

"Oof!" she said, as she was knocked down onto the ground. Her knee was bleeding slightly, but that was like a scratch to a kunoichi like her. Besides, that wasn't the main concern right now. Those vegetables may have been cheap, but she bought a lot of them, and she sacrificed her last mission's earnings for her (now lost) nice dinner.

"Hey, you!" Sakura instantly knew who the so-called obnoxious, stupid jerk was from his haircut, and not-so unique clothing. "Shikamaru! Come back here!"

At his name, he finally turned around. He was smoking, and despite a few disapproving stares, he seemed to be either oblivious or apathetic towards them.

He breathed a puff of smoke out. As he did that, the medic-ninja inside her was scoffing. When shinobi are supposed to try hard to stay alive, here was one ruining his own lungs voluntarily. She did not voice her opinion on that, however, because there _was_ a more pressing matter.

"You made me drop my vegetables," she started grumpily.

"Oh."

It was probably stupid of her to assume that he might just care a teensy little bit about her vegetables, and how _he_ made her drop them. She shouldn't have been too hopeful. But a part of her still hoped that inside her ex-classmate, besides the obvious chauvinist, there was a gentleman in there, too.

"They didn't come for free, you know," she added in a mutter, hoping he would get the hint.

"Obviously."

"And what would a proper man do once he caused some damages? For example, after he knocks out vegetables out of a woman's hands? Vegetables that did not come for free, anyway?"

He shrugged. "Beats me."

Sakura placed her hands on her hip, breathing in and out slowly, before coming up with:

"Are you a genius or not?"

Shikamaru stayed silent, before coughing. It seemed that he didn't quite hear her (or ignored her), so Sakura decided to repeat herself.

"Are you a genius or _not_?" she repeated, putting emphasis on the second option.

After a pause, he shrugged once more.

"HE PAYS FOR THE DAMAGES HE CAUSED, _INCLUDING_ THE VEGETABLES!"

"Uh… If you want bandages for your knee so badly, I'll buy them for you-"

"It's NOT my knee! My knee doesn't matter! It's the vegetables! _The vegetables_! The ones you made me drop!"

"… Oh."

"You're insufferable! You don't even care about other people! I bet you don't even know what day today is!"

"Your-"

"What?! 'You're annoying?' Or maybe, 'You're being stupid'? Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it!"

Shikamaru sighed. "You're being unreasonable."

"_I'm_ being unreasonable?! That's it!

With that, Sakura marched off, not quite sure of why she was angrier than she should've been at the Nara boy, but feeling a bit satisfied. It felt like a large weight had been taken off her chest after she scolded Shikamaru for bumping into her. Serves him right!

Actually, after a few more minutes' worth of thought on the subject, Sakura started to think that he didn't deserve all that. All he did was bump into her, and she exploded at him. He _was_ being a jerk, but he wasn't that much of a jerk.

Sakura groaned, and tried to get the thought out of her head. She was already disappointed on her birthday; she didn't need to feel guilty on her special day too.

She wandered around aimlessly, feeling even worse than before because of her newly-acquired burden; guilt. Maybe when she felt better she would apologise, but now was not the time to do so.


End file.
